The Cosmic Century: A History of Astrophysics and Cosmology

by Malcolm S. Longair

The twentieth-century witnessed the development of astrophysics and cosmology from subjects which scarcely existed to two of the most exciting and demanding areas of contemporary scientific inquiry. In this book Malcolm Longair reviews the historical development of the key areas of modern astrophysics, linking the strands together to show how they have led to the extraordinarily rich panorama of modern astrophysics and cosmology. While many of the great discoveries were derived from pioneering observations, the emphasis is upon the development of theoretical concepts and how they came to be accepted. These advances have led astrophysicists and cosmologists to ask some of the deepest questions about the nature of our Universe and have pushed astronomical observations to the very limit. This is a fantastic story, and one which would have defied the imaginations of even the greatest story-tellers.

Genres: Science, Physics, History, Astronomy, History Of Science

565 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2006

Reviews

[Michael McEllin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you know something about astronomy and want rather more depth than most of the popularisations then this book may be for you. It is well written but also is, however, a serious academic work of science history, which does not skimp on technical detail (and even includes outline derivations of some of the important equations of astronomy, such as the relationship between stellar mass and luminosity). You will, however, find here stuff about the development of astronomy in the 20th Century that you will not get anywhere else. One of the reasons is the Malcolm Longair was himself heavily involved with later developments, both in the radio astronomy group at Cambridge, later at Edinburgh and then back at Cambridge. I was a research student in the radio astronomy group so it was fascinating to get a wider perspective and more context about the contemporary developments - and what happened next! Finally, all I can say is that so far I have read it from cover-to-cover three times, and plan to pick it up again before too long.